From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Two questions (hypothermia as treatment for inflammation injury)
Date: 31 Dec 1998 08:22:58 GMT

In <19981230234336.06162.00002123@ng55.aol.com> nlwtfwnm@aol.com (NLW
TFW NM) writes:

>Two men sprained got similar sprained ankles the same Sunday.
>
>One got excellent medical attention within minutes, and played pro
>football again the next Sunday with minimal short or long term impact.
>
>The other did nothing more than you did. His ankle bothered him for close
>to a year.
>
>The difference was in the level of care they received (aided by
>motivation in one case).
>
>NEXT time you sprain an ankle, IMMEDIATELY, as within MINUTES, apply two
>critical things: 1. A donut-shaped pad made from a sock (twist it and
>make a circle from it or roll it like a condom), or cut from a half-inch
>thick piece of something firm but cushioned (I made one from a piece of 6
>mm neoprene and keep it in my car). Place it around the outer ankle bone
>at the sprain (assuming the spraon is on the outside of the ankle) so it
>will press on the soft tissue around the bone after you wrap the ankle
>firmly with an ACE bandage.
>
>2. A bucket of very cold water for 20 minutes.
>
>The objective of both is to minimize swelling, which can do as much/MORE
>damage as/than the sprain itself.




    And guess what?  An injured brain is much like an injured ankle or
a burned finger.  The faster you can cool it, the more damage you can
prevent.  This was learned with animal experiments, and  it was learned
by accident (though it was hardly suprising-- in retrospect!).  The
trick, of course, is clinically how to do it in humans.

     Just an example and observation.

                                           Steve Harris, M.D.